The Legend of Ares

The Legend of Ares, or Ares Online, is a 3D Fantasy MMORPG. The game, although a few years old, has still been able to keep a sizable playerbase. The game has a heavy emphasis on PvP and grind based progression.

This game has been SHUT DOWN – It is NO LONGER available. This means the official servers are offline and no one can create new accounts or log in to the game. For all intents and purposes this game is dead. This page will be updated if the game ever re-launches.

The Legend of Ares Overview

The Legend of Ares is a PvP oriented 3D Fantasy MMORPG. The game is several years old, but it still has a sizable playerbase and attractive features. If you’re looking for a game that has a heavy emphasis on PvP that doesn’t demand a powerful computer, The Legend of Ares just may be worth the download. The game’s four playable classes are:

Knight – Knights are masters of melee combat. They have the most hitpoints in the game and the most armor. They are extremely capable characters in melee combat but lack ranged attacks.

Spearman - Spearman in The Legend of Ares are similar to knights in most regards, but are better capable of dealing damage with their class specific two handed spears. Spearman, although capable of dealing more damage than knights, they have significantly less defensive power.

Archer - Archers are masters of long ranged physical attacks. They care capable of dealing large amounts of damage very quickly from a distance but are fairly vulnerable from melee distance. They still have a fair amount defensive capabilities, but significantly less than the Knight or Spearman.

Sorcerer - Sorcerers can perhaps deal the greatest amount of damage in The Legend of Ares, but are extremely vulnerable to attacks. They have incredibly low hitpoints and armor, thus they must resort to hit and run tactics to survive in both PvP and PvE.

The Legend of Ares Screenshots

The Legend of Ares Featured Video

Full Review

The Legend of Ares Review

By, Omer Altay

The Legend of Ares, or Ares for short, is a 3D Fantasy MMORPG currently being published by Net Game. It has point-and-click style movement and gameplay and the game’s graphics leave a lot to be desired. The core gameplay itself however, is actually quite fun and will quickly remind players of the gun gameplay of games like Diablo 2 and Baldur’s gate. Like Diablo 2 and the free MMORPG Cronous, The Legend of Ares has a randomized item system that adds a lot of variety to the game. At first glance it may seem difficult trying to find a reason to play The Legend of Ares over more successful newer MMORPGs like Atlantica Online and Runes of Magic but the game does have a large and loyal playerbase and plenty of features.

Starting Out
Start your adventure in The Legend of Ares by first selecting your class and faction. The game’s four playable classes are Knight, Archer, Sorcerer and Spearmen. PvP in the game is faction based, so players must select their faction as they make their character. The game’s perpetually warring factions are ‘Empire’ and ‘Alliance’. Don’t spend too much time deciding on which faction pick, as they’re both virtually the same. It would have been nice for each faction to perhaps have their own unique class like some MMORPGs, but alas that isn’t the case here. It’s unfortunate that the game only has four playable classes and no job advancements, but on the plus side, The Legend of Ares has an ample amount of skills to keep the game varied. The game also has a level cap higher than 140, so there is certainly a lot playability in the game. Each class has their own set of skill trees, all of which are fairly extensive and contain numerous skills. The limited number of skill points granted to players and the vast number of skills allow players to build their character in a unique fashion.

Balance Be Damned!
Okay, perhaps the sub header is a bit too critical, as the game is mostly balanced, but The Legend of Ares does have some minor issues in this regard. Sorcerers are capable of gaining experience much faster than any of the game’s other three classes, especially during the early aspects of the game, as their powerful area of effect skills can be used to kill hordes of enemies at a time. The problem that a lot of MMORPGs have with balancing spell casters it that monsters tend to be too slow at pursuing players, so ranged classes tend to have an enormous advantage over melee classes in battling enemies. This of course isn’t the case in PvP, as players aren’t dumb enough to be easily hit by persistent area of effect skills. Sorcerers however, lose their flare towards the later levels of the game, because of their low hit points and minimal armor. It would have made the game much more fun if all the classes remained balance throughout the entire game, but that’s usually wishful thinking amongst most free MMORPGs.

PvP Galore
Perhaps the most attractive aspect of The Legend of Ares is the game’s PvP system. The game offers a large selection of PvP options ranging from open world PvP to organized guild battles. Since the game does have open world PvP, newbies should be advised not to try gaining experience outside of the game’s safe zones. Since the game is faction based, it shouldn’t be a surprise to learn that the game has nation vs. nation battles regularly, twice a week to be exact. Anyone above level 40 can participate in the faction vs faction battle and whichever faction triumphs gains access to special privileges such as bonus experience and money from monsters until the next faction war. If you’re looking for a game that is largely PvP oriented, The Legend of Ares certainly fits the bill and may be worth checking out.

The Test of Time
One of the most influential things I consider when writing a game review is a game’s playerbase. It is perhaps the single best indicator of how a game performs compared to other titles, as players wouldn’t keep playing a lame game when there are literally hundreds of free MMORPGs out there. The Legend of Ares is certainly not a new game, as the game’s graphics are quite lousy, but the fact that the game is as old as it is and that it has kept it’s playerbase fairly steady says that the game has truly survived the test of time, and for a good reason, as the game is genuinely fun. The game’s experience rate is fast enough to keep players engaged and the randomized item system keeps players hunting for the best possible equipment. The only real drawbacks to the game are the low quality graphics, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as it allows folks with older PCs to play the game, while other MMORPGs like Perfect World and RF Online are much more demanding on a computer’s resources.

Final Verdict – Good
The Legend of Ares is a game that has survived the test of time, as even after three years the game still has a fairly sizable playerbase. The only major issue with the game is its latency issues which I hope will be resolved soon. If you can look past the game’s low quality graphics and repetitive combat there are a lot of fun PvP options and other features to keep players entertained.